Local area SEND services will be able to achieve the top inspection outcome even if they need to make improvements, as long as they are taking action to address their “weaknesses”, Ofsted has said.
The watchdog has announced that its new joint area SEND inspections framework will come into force in January with only a few minor amendments from the version consulted-on earlier this year.
Chief inspector Amanda Spielman today dismissed calls for the new inspections to be delayed until after the government’s SEND review reforms have been implemented.
Doing so would would “risk creating an unacceptable accountability gap in a system that needs to improve urgently”,” she warned.
The new framework will shape inspections of SEND services in local authority areas, carried out jointly with the Care Quality Commission.
It comes after new figures showed more than two thirds of councils inspected by Ofsted last year had “significant weaknesses” in how they support pupils with SEND – the worst record since the watchdog started visits six years ago.
